


Willingly

by illocutionary



Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24421579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illocutionary/pseuds/illocutionary
Summary: Larry sighs, “I’m– I’m not trying avoid him. Not that way, just…”“Just…?” Sacagawea prompts.“He…” Larry waves a vague hand about, “he sometimes gets that look in his eyes. That quirk in his grin. He thinks he’s being subtle, but…” Larry lets out a puff of a laugh, shaking his head.
Relationships: Ahkmenrah/Larry Daley
Comments: 5
Kudos: 145





	Willingly

**Author's Note:**

> An old fic that I rediscovered on my natm fic account on tumblr :O The prompt was: may I request a fic where larry has feelings for ahkmenrah but he feels uncomfortable/guilty acting on them because of their age difference??

“Oi! Your Pharoah-ness! Over here!”

Ahkmenrah looks down, finding Jedediah on a bench, waving at him. He bends down to look eye-level with the miniature cowboy, “Hello, Jedediah. Where is your Roman companion?”

“We’re not together all the time,” Jedediah huffs.

Ahkmenrah raises an eyebrow.

“Ok, fine, I called y’over ‘cause I wanted to hitch a ride to find him,” he admits. “You got time for a mosey around?”

An unsettlingly long silence washes over the two, before Ahkmenrah holds out his hand for Jedediah to walk on. “I suppose,” he sighs, unbearably melancholic.

Jedediah looks up at the morose expression on the Pharaoh and he crosses his arms without moving a step forward, squinting up at the man. “What’s eatin’ you, compadre?”

Ahkmenrah closes his hand. “Despite rumors, no, Dexter did not bite any of my appendages off–”

“I meant you seem like you just ate a whole salt lick at noon and haven’t found a drop of water, boy. Bottling up yer emotions ain’t healthy, y’know.”

“And you seem to think divulging my innermost thoughts would help.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Jedediah admits, “wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Ahkmenrah mulls it over, before dropping his voice in shame. “I believe that I disgust Larry. He has of late shy away from my touch and at times refuse to meet my eyes. As if I’m diseased.”

Jedediah reels back, a hand on his hat. “What? Naw, that can’t be it, ain’t like you’re down with the consumption.”

“I am a corpse.” Ahkmerah sourly admits.

“But that ain’t new, and this seems like it sprang outta the blue. You tried talking to him about it?”

“My efforts have been in vain, it’s become rather tedious, finding a man who does not wish to to be found.”

“Then y’gotta hog-tie him down for answers! I’ll help, I got the rope for it.”

Ahkmenrah gives him a small smile, the first one he’s been able to muster in a week, and he opens his hand once more. “I appreciate the offer. Let’s find the General first though, shall we?”

–

“The Pharaoh seems to be rather upset, as of late,” Sacagawea confides in Larry, as she walks alongside him on his patrol.

Larry opens his mouth, about to question the validity of the woman’s hunch, but knows it’s futile. He ducks his head down. “Oh. Really?”

“In truth, I thought you would have noticed as well,” Sacagawea gently says, which was enough to make Larry feel properly chastised.

“I– well, y’know. Haven’t seen him much around, I’m busy, he’s busy…that kind of thing.” The excuse is hollow, but the woman is far too sophisticated to take the easy bait. “Still, is it not one of your duties to care of all the museum’s inhabitants well-being?”

Larry frowns, knowing she has a very good point, one that he has no rebuttal for, so he settles for nodding demurely.

“I’m– I’m not trying avoid him. Not that way, just…”

“Just…?” Sacagawea prompts.

“He…” Larry waves a vague hand about, “he sometimes gets that look in his eyes. That quirk in his grin. He thinks he’s being subtle, but…” Larry lets out a puff of a laugh, shaking his head.

“Is…is that distasteful to you?” Sacagawea carefully asks.

Larry takes a breath. “I…I just don’t think it’d work out, is all. Nothing personal. Just. Y’know. Facts are facts.”

“What facts are these–” she begins, before hearing an excited, tinny voice close by.

“So, we gotta rely on the element of surprise t’catch him off guard an– heyyyyyy Gigantor!” Jedediah quickly changes gears, hiding a coil of rope behind his back. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yes, it is strange, to see me on my regular patrol route, doing my job.” Larry flatly fires back, and inadvertently making eye contact with Ahk, who seems to be boring holes into him.

“Hey, Ahkmenrah.”

“Hello.” Ahkmenrah clips.

Sacagawea quietly moves forward, gesturing for Jedediah to walk into her palm, and the two of them stride off, leaving Larry alone with the Pharaoh. He swallows.

“How…how’ve you been?” he tries, slipping his hands into his back pockets.

Ahkmenrah crosses his arms, leaning back slightly. “Well enough.”

“That’s…that’s good.” Larry stammers. The elephant in the room is still there, and Larry waves it away. The beast goes, but not without a mighty huff of disapproval at being dismissed.

“Pachyderms. Rude, the lot of them.” Larry tries to joke, but Ahkmenrah does not take the bait.

“I find them rather wise.”

Larry presses his lips into a thin line, looking down, “Well. OK. Um. I guess–”

“Do you abhor me?”

Larry looks back up in shock, though Ahkmenrah has his head turned away. “I am not vain enough to think my status or power would amount to much in the eyes of a Guardian such as yourself, but at the very least, I did not think I would be so distasteful for you to shun me.”

“What?! You’re not distasteful! You’re….you’re you.”

“Who am I, then?”

“What?”

Ahkmenrah turns his heads sharply, facing him once more. “Who am I, to you?”

Larry fidgets, rubbing the back of his head. “You’re…you’re wonderful, Ahk. You’re smart, you’re fun, you’re charming…” A sigh. “And you’re young.”

Ahk frowns, as his eyes follow Larry’s fingers as they brush along the side of his head, noticing the gray hairs he’s carding through.

“It’s– it’s not like a sudden thing. I look in the mirror everyday, I see the lines on my face, but it’s like– just one day, you’re washing your face and you look up, and it’s just–” he brings his hands up, then drops them helplessly. “You remind yourself of your dad.” He exhales deeply, breathing through his nose. “I’m getting older, Ahk. And you’re not.”

“And yet, I am adult. Like you. My face belies my years. You should know that. And I’m rather concerned that you would think of me as so shallow as to care so much about a few gray hairs.”

“That’s the thing, Ahk,” Larry exasperatedly snips, “there’s going to be more of them, and I don’t have the power to stop it, alright? I don’t have super cool immortality powers or a fountain of youth. This is what I got.”

“And it is more than enough.“ Ahkmenrah softly whispers. “I will lose you, inevitably, but i much prefer that I lose you later, rather than now.” He takes a step forward, and rests a hand on Larry’s arm. “I realize, by the same token, that I can not possibly ask you to spend your years with me, if you do not wish it. But if there is even a sliver of chance that we can entwine our lives together, however brief, then I would be honored for the privilege of doing so, Larry Daley.”

Larry doesn’t reply, and Ahkmenrah sighs, about to pull away before finding Larry’s forehead bumping gently against his. “I think, that between you and me,” he breathes, in the small space between their lips, “that I’m the one that’s more honored by this arrangement.”

Ahkmenrah smiles, closing his eyes in relief. “Not at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
